January 19, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 28, 1427

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LAHORE, Jan 18: A committee has been constituted to ascertain the causes of rising number of accidents, especially derailments, on the Pakistan Railways network. Twelve passenger and 44 goods trains derailed in 2005 while the number rose to 23 and 57 in 2006, sources told this reporter on Thursday.

The damage to the railways infrastructure in 113 accidents in 2005 was stated to be to the tune of Rs1,300,000 while 125 accidents the following year caused a loss of Rs2,770,668.

Two retired officers of the railways constitute the committee that has been asked to submit in three months a detailed report, also suggesting ways and means to improve the situation.

“Former federal government inspector of railways Abdul Rahman and a retired divisional superintendent of Lahore Aslam Anwar will be paid Rs400,000 for the task, in spite of the fact that everybody in the organisation has the answer to the whys and hows,” they added while blaming the government for landing the railways into hot waters.

“Ironically, we have already lost some 1,000-kilometre track the British had laid in this part of the subcontinent that is now Pakistan. We couldn’t dualise the track from Lodhran to Lahore. No money was spent on the railways infrastructure for a whole decade of the 1990.

“Till late 1970s, the railways was in profit when the government’s focus diverted to the road sector. Maximum investment was made in the sector at the expense of railways.

“During the Afghan war, a state-owned company was launched which used to load goods from the railways sheds in major cities. Beginning of container traffic by road caused immense loss to the PR freight business.”

According to them, 80 per cent plans were made to develop the road sector and 20 per cent for the railways during 1998-2003.

During 1995-96, they said, some 68 per cent plans for railways and 32 per cent for the road were materialised. The government also withheld in 1995 the money that it used to inject in the crippling railway sector to get it out of its deficit that had soared to Rs20 billion.

In 1996-97, a plan was chalked out to extend terminal facilities and line capacity at various goods offices to generate more earning but the proposal was set aside for want of funds.

Sources termed the split of railways during Nawaz Sharif’s regime into three sectors - infrastructure, passenger and freight - an attempt to paralyse the PR administrative structure.

When the military took over in 1999, it launched with Rs40.8 billion a rehabilitation plan only in core areas to get the railways out of financial deficit.

“But one step of the present government played havoc with the railways - for over seven months all resources of the organisation were dedicated to an early resumption of rail traffic on the Khokhrapar-Monabao section,” the sources recalled.

Work on the project was simultaneously started both from the ends of Khokhrapar and Mirpurkhas in mid-May and completed by the end of 2005. “During this period no attention was given to maintain the tracks or to replace the obsolete signalling system,” they said.

Resumed on Feb 17 last year with the operation of Thar Express, the second rail link between India and Pakistan had to be suspended from Aug 25 when large stretches of track on Monabao-Barmer-Jodhpur section submerged, damaging the track at many places and washing away a culvert.

“The Thar Express operation between Monabao and Zero Point, according to a recent communiqué of Indian authorities, is likely to resume on Feb 10.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad had also said at a news conference in Lahore that a sum of Rs2 billion was spent on the track that has been lying unutilised for the last over four months,” the sources maintained.